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An Ending to a New Beginning.

As 2013 comes to an end, I find myself recently reflecting on the last year and the last four years in particular all the while being grateful for how much I’ve grown as an artist. So… I finally graduated from graduate school last week! Yippeee! It was a long four years. The first two of which I was a full time student and the last two I lived and worked a full time job in NYC and did online studies every semester. Not to mention I was a full time single mom the whole while through it. This marks an important milestone in my life, in which I actually feel like I can start to take my place in life and start doing what I love.

I learned so much through my schooling, four years ago I didn’t even know how to draw for Animation, nor did I even really know what I was in for until I got there! Didn’t even know that my drawing style would change so much or could change. I had been drawing before I started my MFA program, but I had no focus or concentration on anything. It takes a lot to just give up what you have or the life that you used to think that you had.

When I moved to San Francisco from San Diego back in 2009, I gave up everything. I gave up my life in San Diego to experience something new and to live differently. I left so many things behind, including family and friends. My heart was so broken, I had lost my job earlier in 2009 and lost someone in my family that I was very close to in a car accident. My grandparents sold the house I grew up in and decided to retire and live simpler. And on top of that my ex-husband was trying to fight me through court with child custody for our son. My foundations crumbled. But when I moved to San Francisco, I felt a sense of renewal. My spirit and spark that I thought was lost started to come back. Change can be very good for the soul.

Here I am now in Los Angeles, dreamy-eyed, full of inspiration and ready to live the best life that I am working towards! Moving back to the west coast was the best decision I ever made. Granted I had to resign from my secure job in NYC, sell everything, and re-start my whole life again in Los Angeles but it was worth it. I’m now able to see my family more often than I was in the last four years. Yet I can keep my life separate enough to pursue my own dreams and visions for the future.

Looking back now, I’m so glad I trusted my intuition above everything else– above family and friends who didn’t fully support my decision to go back to school. What may seem right to you may not be so obvious to others. And people can say what they want, they are entitled to their opinion. But at the end of the day, your opinion and your great vision for your life is the only thing that really truly matters. Trust me, I had a ton of haters from people who should have been supportive. It takes a strong person to really stand up for what they believe in.

Here’s to the ending of what I thought would have been a long four years of studying, yet it passed by in a blink of an eye. A new beginning awaits me, full of magic and mystery. An exciting, new journey to really discovering and exploring the possibilities of where life may bring me. We have to be open to new opportunities, that’s the only way we can ever expand to our fullest potential and uncover our deeper selves.

We are the sum of what we’ve experienced, where we’ve been, all the lessons we’ve learned, and all of the knowledge that we have accumulated in our own lives. Finding each of our true passions is never an easy journey, but staying true to our selves will give us the happiness that we are truly searching for.

As 2013 ends and winds down, I ask you to re-imagine your life or the life you want for the new year. It sounds cliche, but “any thing is possible if you believe.” Its never too late to re-start projects, or get back on the wagon again to pursue the things we are passionate about. The only thing getting in the way is our self-doubt.

I wish you a great Year for 2014 and a thousand new great things to come into your life!

“Destiny’s true path is rarely ever straight.”

My friend Mahsa (left) and I at the Masonic Concert Hall in San Francisco. December 13, 2013.